Jane,
Regarding staging, I've read quite a few articles on how to sell your house and they all say pretty much the same thing. Before listing the house, Marvelous Matt and I went through the house with a fine-tooth comb, repaired this, touched up that, and I threw out a HUGE AMOUNT OF STUFF. I also packed up a lot and Matt helped take it to a storage locker, which is now completely full. As I was doing it I said to Matt, "Now you know what the agents will say: 'You need to get rid of more!' " I was hoping that while the house was on the market I could indeed go through more and continue to cull, but there simply hasn't been time. It is very time-consuming.
I received high marks from the agents on having very neat and tidy and well-organized closets. Despite having put so much in storage, my closets are still pretty full. I still have tons of books, too. But, thankfully, no one seemed unhappy with my office, which also has a lot of books and files and such--tidy, though. Are they more forgiving because it's my office?
I'm simply not a minimalist and never will be. I'm a pack rat--a recovering one, perhaps, but still a pack rat. I know the guidelines--I just find them difficult to implement.
And one guideline that I don't agree with: to depersonalize as much as possible. I saw one house that had been severely depersonalized--it looked like a Holiday Inn. Not a photo or memento in sight. I really didn't find that attractive. I prefer a house to be welcoming.
